Guilty plea entered in drug deaths of two

Authorities link fatalities to combination of heroin, painkiller.

Authorities link fatalities to combination of heroin, painkiller.

November 18, 2006

DETROIT (AP) -- A man pleaded guilty this week in the deaths of two people by giving them heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl, a combination blamed in the deaths of more than 100 drug users in southeast Michigan over the past year. James E. Coleman, 36, of Detroit, entered the plea to two counts of delivery of a controlled substance resulting in death. Coleman, who was arraigned a day earlier, has been in custody since June, when he was charged with drug possession in the case. Sentencing was set for Feb. 6 before Judge Lawrence Zatkoff. As part of a plea agreement, Coleman was expected to be sentenced to about 24 years to 30 years in prison. He could have faced up to life in prison. Coleman was charged in the deaths of Lauren Jolly, 17, of Oakland County's Bloomfield Township, and Daniel McElmurry, 30, of Madison Heights. Jolly snorted a combination of heroin and fentanyl on May 24 in a Detroit drug house. Authorities said Coleman's brother, Donald Cunningham, placed Jolly in a bathtub full of ice in an attempt to revive her but did not seek medical treatment. Another drug customer took Jolly to a hospital, where the high school junior was pronounced dead. McElmurry died in June. Jolly told police about the drug house six weeks before her death, when she was arrested in connection with having heroin mixed with fentanyl. Her information helped police obtain search warrants that led to a raid and Cunningham's arrest. Cunningham, 27, is in state prison on a parole violation. There are no plans to charge him under federal law, the U.S. attorney's office said.